West Virginia Building and Residential Codes

West Virginia State Building Code (WVSBC) includes the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) and the 2018 International Residential Code (IRC), with amendments.  Title 87 establishes the standards considered necessary by the State Fire Commission for the safeguarding of life and property and to ensure compliance with the minimum standards of safe construction of all structures erected or renovated throughout this state.

Building Code Compliance Software for West Virginia

Plan Analyst code compliance software programs make it easy for building officials, architects and other designers to quickly perform commercial and residential building code plan reviews / code studies.  Plan Analyst for the 2018 IBC and Plan Analyst for the 2018 IRC simplifies the plan review / code study process enabling compliance to specific code years.  This proven software allows modifications to accommodate local amendments, where applicable.  Users have the ability to add code requirements and to add to the checklist.  Changes can be made permanent by changing the data file using the setup section of Plan Analyst, or specific reports can be edited for special conditions.

Plan Analyst Calculators: Deck – Sign – Beam & Column

Plan Analyst Deck, Sign and Beam & Column Calculators are additional simple and effective design and code review software tools that will quickly become your go-to resources when working on associated tasks.

Users of Plan Analyst in West Virginia have included:

Berkeley County Engineering
City of Morgantown
City of Charleston
Hoffmasters Custom Decks
Jefferson County
Lanta Contractors
Town of Granville

Building and Residential Code Resources in West Virginia

Energy Code Compliance Software for West Virginia

Visit the U.S. Department of Energy website to see the latest on energy code adoption in West Virginia, including the use of COMcheck and REScheck Energy Code compliance software. COMcheck enables architects, builders, designers, and contractors to determine whether new commercial or high-rise residential buildings, additions, and alterations meet the requirements of the IECC and ASHRAE Standard 90.1.  REScheck product enables builders, designers, and contractors to determine whether new homes, additions, and alterations meet the requirements of the IECC or a number of state energy codes.

DOE’s EnergyPlus™ is a whole building energy simulation (BEM) program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption (for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads) and water use in buildings. It supports a number of public and private-sector tools and services including EP3.  EP3 is a user interface for EnergyPlus™ designed to streamline workflows for building energy modelers. EP3 is well-suited for tasks like modeling ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G baselines and evaluating energy efficiency measures in new and existing buildings.

The “Building Codes Assistance Project” also provides information on West Virginia’s building energy codes.

FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking

The FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking program reports on the status of hazard-resistant building code adoption in each state. West Virginia is in FEMA Region 3. Read the 2024 Region 3 fact sheet showing the annual metric of the percent of communities adopting hazard-resistant building codes in West Virginia.

AIA and ICC

American Institute of Architects – AIA West Virginia represents architects in the state. There are just over 1,000 registered and reciprocal architects in West Virginia

The ICC Chapter In West Virginia is the West Virginia Code Officials Association.

West Virginia code adoption status on the ICC website